Hi everyone,
I got this board recomended from one of my friends and now when I checked it over, I indeed agree with him that this is really nice, polite and friendly group of people joined together and releated by the same interest.
This is my first post, and I have one question for longer-time Olympus users.
I bought my E-500 two, or maybe even 3 years ago, and it came with dual kit lenses. I enjoye it very much and I use it often. The only upgrade I did was to get 36R flash. This is mostly due to the fact I always struggled to make a good photo in less then ideal lighting situations. It made my pictures blurry and I had lots of rejects. I want to add that this was my first DSLR and that prior to it I never had any photo-experience. Also I never owned any Point & Shoot prior to this camera.
Well, now I am thinking about upgrading. I always thought that my second camera would be Nikon, but buying this flash I figured that I would not mind getting another Olympus either, especially if it would rectified some of the stuff that I had problem with E-500.
E-520 is good since it has an image stabilization, has a live view (not determing factor, but nice to have for my lady), and has wireless flash triggering that might come in handy sometimes.
Should I make a jump right now, or spend more time with E-500 until I learn more about photography ??? In the case I do not upgrade right now, in future I might choose to go some other route, Nikon, Canon, Pentax.
Also, if I decide to get an E-520, I would be getting better lenses as well, starting with 12-60, and then 50-200 or similar. I guess at that point of time I would of have invested lots of cash in this brand in order to justify changing to something else.

Another question is concerning the price of E-520. Here in Canada, I can get body only for 450, or the dual kit for 700. Since I own older lenses, is there any point of overspending and getting the same set of lenses again.
Or in another words, are these new kit lenses better then the ones I got with my camera ?

p.s. On eBay I found the deal that includes this kit and 2 X teleconverter, wide angle converter, 2 tripods, 8GB CF card (I only used xD so far), slave external flash and few other goodies for 650 which is around $800 Canadians

But if you have the money, I suggest going for the E3. Theyve gotten a lot cheaper now, theyre about 1000USD for a new one on eBay.

Also the new E620 is definitely something to consider. Maybe in a few months when the prices drop.

I have the 510 myself, and love it. However theres some issues I have with it that carried over from the 500 such as the poor ISO performance, which is why I will be upgrading to the E3 soon. Thats said you will love the 510 even more than the 500 for sure.

Welcome to the forum! Glad you are here. We can always use more people here -- particularly in the Oly forum.

Moving on to the 510 or 520 will definitely improve the issue of blurred photos. The image stabilization will definitely help in lower light situations as you will be able to use a lower film speed (less noise) with slower shutter speeds (longer exposure). It's that slow shutter speed that always kills me with blurred photos. So the IS is going to make big difference. At least it did for me comparing the E-410 vs. 510.

Another factor in helping with low light issues would indeed be some better lenses. My E-410 came with the 14-42 and 40-150 kit lenses. Great lenses for what you pay and great lenses in ideal lighting conditions. But with a maximum aperture of 3.5 and 4, respectively, not so good in low light. Now I have the 14-54/f2.8-3.5 and the 25/f2.8 pancake. They take better low light photos than the kit lens.

I agree with Atomic that you may want to wait for the 620's release in the next month or so. As a new camera, pricing is going to be relatively higher than current 510 or 520 prices. But it also looks like a really nice camera. But if you don't need all the additional gizmos on the 620, or if budget is an issue like it is for most of us, then I'd say go for the 510 or 520. No wireless flash control or contrast auto focus during live view on the 510. Other than that, the 520 has a bigger and nicer LCD. And supposedly slightly less noisy on higher ISO's, because of additional noise reduction. On the other hand, the 510 is less expensive, and I think it produces sharper photos.

Hope that helped. Let us know what you get! And feel free to ask more questions. Cheers!

Yeah, the slow shutter is what makes me to leave my camera at home at nights when I travel.

I am inclined to get 520 since I believe it is in my budget and I dont want to overspend on 620, especially since I think that 520 has everything I need at this time.

What do you guys say about the kit lenses between ones I got with my camera, and the ones that are coming with newer cameras ?
Is there any chance that newer ones are of better quality then the ones I have ???

Again, I suggest the 510 over the 520. Actually having closely examined their images back to back, I actually think the 510 produces better images, and actually less noise.

As far as the kit lenses go. I think the 14-42 is slightly better than the 14-45 only because of the size and slightly faster focus speed, otherwise the images they produce are both excellent. However the 40-150mm 3.5-4.5 is IMO better than the new 4.0-5.6 and when given a choice between the two, I sold the newer one and kept my older one.

Again, I suggest the 510 over the 520. Actually having closely examined their images back to back, I actually think the 510 produces better images, and actually less noise.

As far as the kit lenses go. I think the 14-42 is slightly better than the 14-45 only because of the size and slightly faster focus speed, otherwise the images they produce are both excellent. However the 40-150mm 3.5-4.5 is IMO better than the new 4.0-5.6 and when given a choice between the two, I sold the newer one and kept my older one.

I forgot to explain myself in previous topic. Problem with E-510 is that no store here in my city carries them anymore.
Biggest big box store doesnt have 520 anymore either, but the specialized photo stores do have some 520 together with some from series 4xx.

Otherwise, how is the image quality comparison between 500 and 510 ???
I really like what I get with 500, and now with external flash even pictures that would never come out properly, sometimes do.

Again, I suggest the 510 over the 520. Actually having closely examined their images back to back, I actually think the 510 produces better images, and actually less noise.

As far as the kit lenses go. I think the 14-42 is slightly better than the 14-45 only because of the size and slightly faster focus speed, otherwise the images they produce are both excellent. However the 40-150mm 3.5-4.5 is IMO better than the new 4.0-5.6 and when given a choice between the two, I sold the newer one and kept my older one.

I forgot to explain myself in previous topic. Problem with E-510 is that no store here in my city carries them anymore.Biggest big box store doesnt have 520 anymore either, but the specialized photo stores do have some 520 together with some from series 4xx.

Otherwise, how is the image quality comparison between 500 and 510 ???I really like what I get with 500, and now with external flash even pictures that would never come out properly, sometimes do.

Can't tell you how my E-510 compares to the E-500. But the key difference, in my opinion, is image stabilization. Because of your concern with slow shutter speeds that causes blur, IS is important.

As for 510 vs 520 image quality. I still think the 520 has less noise. But the noise reduction seems to take away from the sharpness making images look softer than the 510. I guess this whole compare and contrast is moot though if you can't a hold of a 510 in your area. If you don't mind purchasing online, there are vendors that still sell thay 510.

Can't tell you how my E-510 compares to the E-500. But the key difference, in my opinion, is image stabilization. Because of your concern with slow shutter speeds that causes blur, IS is important.

As for 510 vs 520 image quality. I still think the 520 has less noise. But the noise reduction seems to take away from the sharpness making images look softer than the 510. I guess this whole compare and contrast is moot though if you can't a hold of a 510 in your area. If you don't mind purchasing online, there are vendors that still sell thay 510.

I cant believe that my last post did not go through. As a side not I am having lots of issues with this forum's database. I am getting the php overload message every 3rd time when I poke around.
This time it looks like that I lost the last message.
I asked if I could take out that noise processing, and do it instead in the software - only if I find it critical ? I am tolerent to the noise much more then to the lack of sharpness and blurrines. I guess that is a personal preference.
As for not buying over the internet, lets say I am not inclined due to past experience. I also like that instant feel of reward when I walk in the store and then walk out with the new toy. Much better then waiting for shipping, worrying about damage in the transport, shipping back, and then waiting for new period of time. I guess thats why you pay the premium.

Can't tell you how my E-510 compares to the E-500. But the key difference, in my opinion, is image stabilization. Because of your concern with slow shutter speeds that causes blur, IS is important.

As for 510 vs 520 image quality. I still think the 520 has less noise. But the noise reduction seems to take away from the sharpness making images look softer than the 510. I guess this whole compare and contrast is moot though if you can't a hold of a 510 in your area. If you don't mind purchasing online, there are vendors that still sell thay 510.

I cant believe that my last post did not go through. As a side not I am having lots of issues with this forum's database. I am getting the php overload message every 3rd time when I poke around.This time it looks like that I lost the last message.I asked if I could take out that noise processing, and do it instead in the software - only if I find it critical ? I am tolerent to the noise much more then to the lack of sharpness and blurrines. I guess that is a personal preference.As for not buying over the internet, lets say I am not inclined due to past experience. I also like that instant feel of reward when I walk in the store and then walk out with the new toy. Much better then waiting for shipping, worrying about damage in the transport, shipping back, and then waiting for new period of time. I guess thats why you pay the premium.

Sometimes you get unlucky, but from a big name like Amazon? Unlikely. All my new lenses have been from Amazon and I couldn't be happier with the speed of delivery, price, and quality. If you can't stand waiting, pay the not extra for 2 day, or even 1day shopping. You will still be saving TONS of money.